North Americans and Brits with a thing for Asian porn in 3D, your prayers have been answered. The Chinese erotic blockbuster "Sex and Zen 3D: Extreme Ecstasy" (it beat the opening-day grosses of "Avatar" in Hong Kong), will hit North America August 12, with the UK and Ireland following September 2.

North Americans and Brits with a thing for Asian porn in 3D, your prayers have been answered. The Chinese erotic blockbuster "Sex and Zen 3D: Extreme Ecstasy" (it beat the opening-day grosses of "Avatar" in Hong Kong), will hit North America August 12, with the UK and Ireland following September 2.

In May we reported on the slim chances of "Sex and Zen" opening at the AMC multiplex chain (China Lion has an exhibition deal with AMC under which the multiplex chain has agreed to screen 15 of China Lion’s films to a minimum of 23 North American screens per year).

Turns out "Sex and Zen" won't be one of the 15. According to the release, it will open in the US in "independent and art house cinemas."

It's another matter entirely in Canada and the UK. Canadians will be able to catch the film exclusively at the Cineplex multiplex chain, while UK audiences will have to seek it out at the country's leading cinema chain, Odeon.

The film received an 18 rating (restricted to 18 year old and above) in Canada with the censors ordering no cuts. Last we heard, China Lion plans to submit the film to the MPAA for its theatrical release in the US, although many China Lion titles are released Stateside unrated.

Check out the Chinese trailer below to get an idea of what to expect:

Below is the full release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHINA LION EXTENDS SEX AND ZEN 3D INTO THE UK

London/Los Angeles – July 12th, 2011 – China Lion Film Distribution has announced that following on from their North American distribution deal they have now completed arrangements to take the Chinese erotic blockbuster – ‘Sex and Zen 3D: Extreme Ecstasy’ into the UK & Ireland. The film will release exclusively through leading UK cinema chain Odeon with a September 2 release date.

China Lion also announced an exclusive ancillary tie in with UK specialist Metrodome, who will work with China Lion in managing the UK theatrical release.

The film has created box office records since release in Australia, New Zealand & Hong Kong with opening week sessions completely sold out. In Australia, pic took over $1.1 million on just 6 screens. Similar stellar results were seen in New Zealand where the film earned a $100K per screen average.

In Hong Kong, the film beat the opening day grosses of ‘Avatar’ and ‘Titanic’ with an opening day gross of $US351K. The film continues to play and has racked up a staggering $HK25 million at the BO.

Pic received an 18 rating (Restricted to 18 year olds and above) in Australia, New Zealand and Canada with the censors ordering no cuts..

North America will begin a city by city roll out from August 12 with leading independent and art house cinemas in the US and exclusively with Cineplex in Canada.

The erotic costume drama film is an adaptation of the classical novel The Carnal Prayer Mat depicting the sexual exploits of a young Ming Dynasty scholar named Wei Yangsheng. It is produced by Stephen Shiu, the executive producer of its predecessor film Sex and Zen. The film was promoted as "the world's first 3-D erotic film" and its cast includes Japanese adult video idols. Producer Stephen Shiu Yeuk-Yuen described the experience of watching this film onscreen: "It is just like [being a] voyeur near someone's bed."

China Lion CEO Milt Barlow remarked, “We are excited to again partner with Pegasus Motion Pictures on extending China Lions’ distribution of this picture to the UK & Ireland. This will be China Lions first extension into the UK but we believe with exclusive partners of the quality of Odeon Cinemas and Metrodome not only will we be successful with Sex & Zen 3D, but we’ll lay the foundations for future China Lion releases.”

Belinda Inacio Lam, who repped the picture for Pegasus Motion Pictures, commented, “We are thrilled to be able to extend our relationship with China Lion into the important UK market. Pegasus has completed distribution arrangements on this record breaking film in France, Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Russia, Greece, Portugal and Poland, and we look forward to seeing great results in the UK with the China Lion team.”

Jezz Vernon, Head of Distribution for Metrodome added ‘We’re delighted to be working with China Lion Film Distribution on the UK release of 3D Sex and Zen, it’s been a phenomena down under and now we look forward to bringing it to UK audiences. It’s a truly unforgettable cinema experience.”